Awe and Wonder Podcast: AAC & AT

S6 E6: More Leaders and Changemakers Featuring Don Johnston

Don Johnston, who founded and leads Building Wings as CEO, developed his company to create educational technology and curriculum specifically designed for students with disabilities. Drawing from his personal journey with dyslexia, including his own delayed path to reading proficiency, Don openly discusses how he overcame learning challenges through key support systems. His experiences inform his passionate advocacy for maintaining high expectations for all students, as he credits this approach as crucial for academic achievement.
Resources:
Building Wings: https://www.buildingwings.com/
Monarch Reader: https://www.buildingwings.com/monarch-reader-books-for-beginning-readers-of-all-ages/ 
News Currents: https://www.buildingwings.com/news-currents/
Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM): https://dynamiclearningmaps.org/
Tiered Vocabulary: https://cpet.tc.columbia.edu/news-press/tiered-vocabulary-narrowing-your-instructional-focus

S6 E5: More Leaders & Changemakers featuring Amy Campbell

Amy is a special education teacher from WA State, who was the 2020 Teacher of the Year award recipient and is also involved in the Professional Educator Standards Board and the WA Inclusionary Practice Technical Network. In this episode, Amy discusses her roles and experiences in special education, with a focus on the importance of collaboration, inclusion, and individualization. The potential of technology is also explored, such as artificial intelligence in education. Listen in to hear Amy express her passion for her work and her commitment to continuous learning and innovation with a focus on positive presuppositions.
Resources: Inclusionary Practices Technical Assistance Network (ITPN): https://ospi.k12.wa.us/student-success/support-programs/inclusionary-practices-technical-assistance-network-iptn WEA Inclusion Training: https://wea-win.org/events/500/ Professional Educator Standards Board: https://www.pesb.wa.gov/

S6 E4: More Leaders and Changemakers Featuring Gail Van Tatenhove

Throughout her career spanning more than 40 years, Gail Van Tatenhove has dedicated herself to working with AAC users although her connection to people with disabilities began in her youth, when she helped at her father's business.  In this episode she emphasizes several core beliefs that guide her work including: using your intuition, making the most of available resources, avoiding excuses, and it’s all about the words- robust, frequently used words. Listen in to hear more!

S6 E3: More Leaders and Changemakers Featuring Rachel Madel

Rachel Madel wears multiple hats as a speech therapist, parent coach and podcast host with a passion for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). Together with Chris Bugej, she co-hosts "Talking with Tech," where they explore topics in assistive technology and communication. Known for creating and generously distributing educational resources, Rachel advocates for an open approach to sharing knowledge. In this episode she shares her philosophy that centers on the belief that leaning in and leading with sharing will enable a mindset that leads to great things. 

S6 E2: More Leaders & Changemakers featuring Karen Kangas

As an Occupational Therapist specializing in seating, positioning, mobility, and assistive technology, Karen brings her expertise to both clinical practice and education. Her approach emphasizes that supporting people with disabilities requires building strong relationships and considering each person's complete circumstances. Rather than viewing assistive technology as a solution in itself, Karen sees it as one tool within the broader context of daily living and learning. She emphasizes that our fundamental role is to create learning opportunities through meaningful activities, not through technology alone.
Resources: Interview: Empowering Movement: Karen Kangas on Transformative Therapies for Children with Complex Disabilities A Closer Look at Access (video)

S6 E1: More Leaders & Changemakers featuring Glenna Wright-Gallo

Glenna Wright-Gallo serves as the Assistant Secretary in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) at the U.S. Department of Education. She played a key role in developing two influential resources: the Myths and Facts document and the National Education Technology Plan (NETP), which clarify available support systems and their intended purposes. Drawing from her diverse experiences as someone who uses assistive technology, a parent, and an educational leader, Glenna advocates passionately for assistive technology and believes that all students can learn.

Awe and Wonder Podcast AAC & AT S5 E9 Vision: Krista Wilkinson

Dr. Krista Wilkinson published an article on evidence-based approach to AAC design for individuals with cortical visual impairment (CVI) based on the experience of Emma, a young woman with CVI. In this episode Krista explains the three pillars of an evidence-based practice approach (service providers, researchers, and families/clients) and describes three domains that are important considerations for AAC users with CVI: skills brought by the individual, responsibilities of the communication partner, and design choices for the AAC system.
 
Resource Article-
An evidence-based approach to augmentative and alternative communication design for individuals with cortical visual impairment: https://pubs.asha.org/doi/full/10.1044/2023_AJSLP-22-00397

Awe and Wonder Podcast AAC & AT S5 E8 Vision: Whitney Van Klinken

Whitney Van Klinken is a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) at Yakima Children's Village-Multicare. She talks about her experiences working with children and adults doing Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) evaluations, including for those with vision impairments. She and Brenda discuss considerations when evaluating communication systems for students who are blind or have low vision or CVI. Together they share stories of using switches with students, observing vision behaviors and examples of the power of presuming competence.
Resources mentioned in this podcast:
Children's Village- Multicare https://www.yakimachildrensvillage.org/
Hand under hand technique: https://www.nationaldb.org/media/doc/HandUnderHandTechnique_a.pdf
Partner Assisted Scanning (PAS): https://www.cajonvalley.net/Page/20599
PODD communication books: https://www.novitatech.com.au/podd-communication-books/
Adapted Switch Labs (ASL): https://www.asl-inc.com/
Low vision and assistive technology blog by Veronica Lewis: https://veroniiiica.com/

Awe and Wonder Podcast AAC & AT S5 E7 Vision: Lynn Elko

Lynn and her daughter Emma struggled to find a way for Emma, who has Cortical Vision Impairment (CVI), to have access to a robust vocabulary. Together, working through page setup, navigation methods and symbol representation, they figured out what worked for Emma and called it See CVI, Speak AAC.
Resources mentioned in this podcast:
See CVI Speak AAC: https://seecvispeakaac.com/
Comprehensive Resource List provided via Lynn Elko: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GINW6gNUpAMZfTn9weU4wWXOUmWsEhw8/view?usp=drive_link
An Evidenced-Based Approach to AAC Design for Individuals with CVI (Published in AJSLP with open access): https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/2023_AJSLP-22-00397
 

Awe and Wonder Podcast AAC & AT S5 E6 Vision: Kathee Scoggin & Emma Packard

Kathee Scoggin and Emma Packard both work with students who have combined vision and hearing loss including deaf-blindness and support the Washington DeafBlind Program https://wsds.wa.gov/deaf-blind/.
In this episode of the podcast Kathee and Emma share stories from their numerous experiences working with students who have combined vision and hearing loss. These stories call out important tips for working with this population, including: considerations for starting tactile symbols, what a good relationship between adults and students can do to improve communication skills, and what adults can learn when they provide adequate wait time for students with combined vision and hearing loss.
 
Resources mentioned in this podcast:
National Center for Deafblindness https://www.nationaldb.org/
Learning Media Assessment Sensory Channels Form https://www.pathstoliteracy.org/learning-center/learning-media-assessment/
Deafblind Intervener Modules https://www.nationaldb.org/products/modules/ohoa/
Can You Feel The Thunder (book) https://www.amazon.com/Can-Feel-Thunder-Lynn-McElfresh/dp/068982324X
Child of the Silent Night (book) https://www.amazon.com/Child-Silent-Night-Fisher-Hunter/dp/0395068355
Washington DeafBlind Program https://wsds.wa.gov/deaf-blind/